Thanks to a new technique and new technology, investigators with the medical examiner's office gave John Doe his name back.
CLEVELAND, Ohio - A recent John Doe case out of Akron has been solved in just weeks thanks to a new technique and the help of a common household item.Someone discovered human remains in the brush in the heart of the city, just outside of the University of Akron back in February.
“In this case there was not much information, it was very skeletonized remains. Some clothing, but really no personal effects or identification attached to the body,” said Dr. Robert Shott, Chief Deputy Medical Examiner.So they interviewed people nearby and looked for clues to find his identity.“It really we’re trying to identify-- who is this person? We don’t even know if there’s any injury or trauma. So we take this series of X-rays, we’re looking for bullets, any kind of weapons that may be you know in the body, anywhere like a knife tips, stuff like that and anything that could give us an idea if there’s a traumatic death,” he said.After they cleaned up his clothing, they found he wore sizes 5 and 6 extra-large. “The fact that he did not, his physical description did not match any reported missing people, that tells us something maybe he’s estranged from family. Maybe he’s not local to this area,” Dr. Shott said. Investigators couldn’t get fingerprints because of decomposition, so they sent his DNA samples to a BCI lab.Meanwhile, Jason Grom, a forensic death investigator, tried something new. He had just gotten back from a 2-day training conference in Miami put on by the FBI on fingerprinting techniques.“So with application of some boiling water, I could temporarily enhance the ridge detail of the print,” Grom said. Then, he used a fingerprint scanner and a common household item to pick up that detail and get his fingerprints. “And anything with water on it, will you just it won’t read appropriately, you won’t get a nice clear print. But WD-40, being WD is water displacement, it takes away all the water. That way it can scan nicely,” he said.Two fingerprints, one from each hand, can get a hit from the databases if the person had a criminal history, identifying them in a minute or two.“I was proud of my work. I was happy that I could make good with my skills and was able to enhance the fingerprint and be able to put a name to the person and of course notify family of their loved one,” he said. Thanks to a new technique and new technology, investigators gave John Doe his name back--Emil Joseph Colosimo, 54.“It’s for the family. It’s for closure. It’s for letting the people know who are-- really, really need to know,” Dr. Shott said. The Summit County Medical Examiner’s Office said this case will be closed soon, even though the cause and manner of his death may still be undetermined because of the condition of the remains. 19 Investigates has profiled more than a dozen John and Jane Doe cases from here in northeast Ohio that remain unsolved in our series Unidentified.15 Cleveland gang members indicted on drug, firearm charges by the United States Attorney’s Office Family member of slain Aisha Fraser speaks out as 3rd attempt to pass Aisha’s Law goes before Ohio LegislatureSign of the times: NCAA approves coach-to-player helmet communication for 2024 football season
Unidentified Remains John Doe Cases Solved Akron John Doe Summit County John Doe Cases John Doe Identified Summit County Medical Examiner's Office Fingerprinting Technology Forensic Science Human Identification
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